Brooklands, Christchurch

So, I'm standing here in Brooklands, the northernmost part of Christchurch, and it's pretty wild to think about what this place used to be. It was built on old swamp land right next to the Brooklands Lagoon, which is part of the Waimakariri River mouth. The Waimakariri forms the northern boundary, and the Styx River actually flows through here into the lagoon. To the west, you've got Kainga, and Bottle Lake Forest is to the south.

Back in the 1960s, apparently, it was a bit of a "ramshackle settlement" with a lot of fibrolite houses, and well-built ones were a rarity. But by the time the earthquakes hit, the houses were much more substantial. That's the really striking part of the story here. This whole area was hit so badly by the 2010 and 2011 Christchurch earthquakes. There was a lot of land subsidence and liquefaction.

Because of that damage, the government declared most of Brooklands a red zone in November 2011. That meant if you had insurance, the government would buy your house and land. They basically decided it was too expensive to repair the land with houses still on it. Some of the houses that were condemned were actually built in 2011, and at least one even got its building consent after the February 2011 earthquake, which is just incredible.

By 2015, most of the properties were demolished. It's almost like the suburb itself was wiped off the map. There were only 25 residents left who refused the buyout offers. It's a stark reminder of the power of nature and how quickly a place can change. It's definitely not what it once was.